ICC match referees biased: Gavaskar

Officials 'harsher' on Indian players to get back at the BCCI.

SUNIL GAVASKARThe former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, has stirred up a controversy by claiming that ICC match referees are biased and are harsher on Indian players. In a newspaper column, Gavaskar has openly blasted the ICC match referees and said that the referees vent their anger on Indian players to get back at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Gavaskar wrote:

“There is a general belief that because the Indian players are rich and spoilt, they deserve to be put in their place and fining them won’t make much of a difference to their pockets.”

The former opener went on and cited an example of this bias from the ongoing Ashes series, “In Australia, when two players collided, the match referee decided it was not deliberate and let them off. But, having seen the way players from the subcontinent, especially players from India are treated for exactly the same transgression, the different standards are clear.”